The Treasure of Dakhaan (Eberron, Path1) (Inactive)

Game Master EltonJ

@EltonJ: Any objections to the following?

Re-fluffing the Varisian Free-Style Fighter archetype to Aundairian Free-Style Fighter, an aficionado of dueling styles and techniques from all over Khorvaire.

Traits Slippery (Combat) and Antiquities Smuggler (Region) to reflect my character’s time in a shady squad during the war. The second one wouldn’t really be region-specific, but I like the cut of its jib.

Not bad. Do you know the books they came from? I know I have all first edition lost omens books.

Philo Pharynx wrote:

Okay, here's the list of what people have put out. With this mix, I think my goblin professor would fit best with what people have called.

I was going to be a Cutthroat (the Rogue Soulknife that gets Sneak Attack and can pick up Trapfinding) if you prefer the blaster, but I could also just not pick up the talent for Trapfinding and grab something else if you want to be Mr. Math. =)

You play the character you want to play. :)

Philo Pharynx wrote:

Okay, here's the list of what people have put out. With this mix, I think my goblin professor would fit best with what people have called.

I was going to be a Cutthroat (the Rogue Soulknife that gets Sneak Attack and can pick up Trapfinding) if you prefer the blaster, but I could also just not pick up the talent for Trapfinding and grab something else if you want to be Mr. Math. =)

Eh, the professor has grown a bit on me. I think I'll stay with him. But I'm not averse to having another trapfinder if you go that way. I've been in some adventures where having multiples has been useful.

Not bad. Do you know the books they came from? I know I have all first edition lost omens books.

Per the archives of nethys prd (I own none of these books):

Okay. I got the first book (from the Humble Bundle they offered), but the other two I don't have. But since they are on the srd, I can allow your character choices.

The climax has been changed.

Premise: There is a lost treasure in the Dagger River. The treasure is said to be magical in nature. The PCs (you) are students of the Department of Antiquities in Margrave University. You are hired to find and unearth the treasure so it can be shown in the Royal Museum. After it's catalogued, of course.

The Twist: Margrave University isn't the only one who is interested in the treasure. A group of orc mercenaries have a claim for the treasure themselves. Not only that, but a group of hobgoblins also claim the treasure, believing it to be part of the lost treasure of Dakkhan.

The Climax: The treasure is guarded by the dead. By an army of skeletons, who all fight to the death. They are led by a skeleton warrior. The skeletons are hobgoblin skeletons, and they attack who ever seeks the lost treasure of Dakkhan.

Would a Skinwalker be a valid equivalent to a Shifter for this game? Or are Shifters not allowed?

Also, are we using any kind of Elephant in the Room equivalent?

I'm surprised that I haven't seen this question until now. Shifters are allowed, and you can create a skinwalker to represent them.

I think people want a distinct answer to the elephant in the room, even if it is negative. It really affects some of the concepts.

I think people want a distinct answer to the elephant in the room, even if it is negative. It really affects some of the concepts.

Yeah, and I am rereading it.

I'd rather use the RAW, I don't like what Elephant in the Room proposes.

Essentially all EitR proposes is that you'll see more interesting Feats in your game instead if the roughly two dozen practical ones required to get basic builds off the ground.

Essentially all EitR proposes is that you'll see more interesting Feats in your game instead if the roughly two dozen practical ones required to get basic builds off the ground.

Yeah, I just read it all. And I remembered seeing it before.

Hrm. I'm having an issue I don't usually have: thinking of a character. Not the mechanics (I have a completed sheet), but I'm blanking on what kind of personality I want to animate the pile of stats.

I'll give it another couple of days to see if anything coalesces, but if not I'll probably withdraw my interest.

Hrm. I'm having an issue I don't usually have: thinking of a character. Not the mechanics (I have a completed sheet), but I'm blanking on what kind of personality I want to animate the pile of stats.

I'll give it another couple of days to see if anything coalesces, but if not I'll probably withdraw my interest.

I usually do the mechanics first, too. Maybe some of us more familiar with Eberron can offer suggestions. Are you still building the shifter soulknife? Let me spitball some hooks...

Maybe you were involved in the rebellion of the Eldeen Reaches from Aundair. I could see you as a guerilla warrior, travelling light. If stopped, you don't even have a real weapon. This might work for a character who is good in the wilderness.

If you are less woodsy, you could work for one of the spy agencies or a criminal guild. In Sharn, the Dark Lanterns are Breland's spy agency, but there are lots of criminal guild you could have escaped from.

You could have been involved in special forces in the war. For any nation. Shifters aren't common, so you would have stood out, and especially for your soulknife. But effectiveness often builds bridges. After the war you might have struggled to find purpose until you were recruited for this mission.

You could have grown up near a Kalashtar community. If they knew your abilities, some might have helped you train. You might have picked up some of the precepts of the Path of Light.

You could also not know anything about psionics and how you make your blades. It just sort of happened and you've figured it out by trial and error.

Well, that was many good suggestions. Thanks Philo.

Thanks Philo. I think I may need to just do deeper reading on some setting elements. My previous Eberron character was easier. They were a wizard, very proud of being a Morgrave University alum, easy as pie to "cascade"
a personality off of from there.

I'm just now realizing I don't really know what the deal with Shifters is, other than that they exist and are oppressed(?) (at least the impression I got from a pair of Eberron novels I read a long, long time ago).

I'm having trouble "connecting" to anything concrete.

First of all, please tell me if I'm annoying you. Or if you want to take this to PM's. I know what it's like when a you have the mechanics, but the concept just isn't coming.

Shifters tend to be the kinds of people who live in frontiers and wild areas, they often have sharp tempers. Often they attribute saying to their animal ancestors. - "Grandmother Rat", "Father Wolf", "Uncle Bear", etc.

In some places they were attacked by the Church of the Silver Flame, but that's not everywhere. It can be as big or as small a thing as you want. Most people are going to be a bit wary of Flamers. But the church is like earthly churches. A lot of them are just nice folks, but then you have the equivalent of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Beyond that shifters are pretty much country folk. Not a lot of other cultural baggage.

You could lean into the ignorance by being adopted. If you didn't grow up around other shifters then you won't know much about other shifters. Or your family could have lived in sharn for a couple of generations. You'd pick up a lot on the city's culture and not so much on what came before.

Or perhaps the race isn't working out and you should consider something else. If you are a basic race from the five nations, than we can shift a standard concept and figure out a place for it in Eberron.

I have two other Eberron-specific ideas that would work with a soulknife. I'll give the basics and I'll go into more if they call to you.

Valenari elf. These are desert warrior elves who focus on channeling the spirit of a specific ancestor. Perhaps you've come close enough that you can summon the spirit of their weapon.

Kalashtar. These people are naturally psionic because they have the spirits of exiled dream outsiders in them. Soulknives are common there. They often have a monk-ish feel to them. but on the outside they look like humans and often live in human communities and blend in.

In some places they were attacked by the Church of the Silver Flame, but that's not everywhere. It can be as big or as small a thing as you want. Most people are going to be a bit wary of Flamers. But the church is like earthly churches. A lot of them are just nice folks, but then you have the equivalent of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, that explains it. The books I read dealt heavily with the Silver Flame church. It's the only religion in the setting I know anything about lol.

Philo Pharynx wrote:

In some places they were attacked by the Church of the Silver Flame, but that's not everywhere. It can be as big or as small a thing as you want. Most people are going to be a bit wary of Flamers. But the church is like earthly churches. A lot of them are just nice folks, but then you have the equivalent of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, that explains it. The books I read dealt heavily with the Silver Flame church. It's the only religion in the setting I know anything about lol.

There's more than that, though. The Church of the Silver Flame is monolithic, like the Catholic Church during the Medieval period. There's the Path of Light (dominated by the Kalashtar), the Blood of Vol, and others.

What do you guys think are the best resources for getting a deeper understanding of Eberron? I have the Adventurer's Guide to Eberron, but it's a pretty shallow dive into a wide variety of topics.

I'm looking mostly for stuff on Shifters specifically and sort of a deep dive on The Last War and peoples' perceptions on it.

Basically all I know about it is:

1.) It happened
2.) Warforged were made to fight in it
3.) A country was destroyed during it
4.) It's over, but the memory is still fresh

I do like the idea of being a special forces "ranger" type on a Soulknife chassis.

What do you guys think are the best resources for getting a deeper understanding of Eberron? I have the Adventurer's Guide to Eberron, but it's a pretty shallow dive into a wide variety of topics.

I'm looking mostly for stuff on Shifters specifically and sort of a deep dive on The Last War and peoples' perceptions on it.

Basically all I know about it is:

1.) It happened
2.) Warforged were made to fight in it
3.) A country was destroyed during it
4.) It's over, but the memory is still fresh

I do like the idea of being a special forces "ranger" type on a Soulknife chassis.

Races of Eberron gets in depth about the shifters. It gets in depth about the other three races, and has some cool feats you can take.

The Forge of War talks about the last war in depth. It also goes into Time Travel as a possibility. I find that to be an opportunity. But my campaign isn't about Time Travel, yet.

There's another source that is very wonderful. keith-baker.com He has written a lot of his site. Probably a couple of books worth. but of course this is not organized well. It also sometimes goes pretty deep, but It's a great resource. Some of it is patron only, but there's a lot of free stuff.

These two are particularly good, but the whole site can be a rabbit hole where you lose time.

https://keith-baker.com/lycanthropes/
https://keith-baker.com/the-purge/

https://keith-baker.com/manifest-zone-the-last-war/

So it seems a bit unclear is this game still looking for players?

So it seems a bit unclear is this game still looking for players?

So far, only two people have submitted realized concepts. If you are looking to put your hat in the ring, I won't stop you.

Okay well you will not stop me but will you accept me I generally do not throw my hat into the ring fully unless we have an agreement prior to me doing so. I truely hate putting forth wasted effort nor do I ever require any of my potential players to do so.

So if I create a realized concept will I be accepted?

Also currently what kind of concept might help the group out the most? And/or what are the completed concepts thus far?

Also how long before you get things officially started are you waiting on a certain number of PCs or will three be sufficient to start and we fill things in with NPCS and/or NPC/PCs?

So far, only two people have submitted realized concepts. If you are looking to put your hat in the ring, I won't stop you.

Do we need some(all of the) Crunch up?

I've got Professor Dakaal. In terms of party function, consider him a rogue with some utility magic. In terms of who he is, he's a brilliantly crazy goblin mathematician. He knows a bit about everything because everything is math to him. In fact, his mastery of mathematics is good enough that he can use it as a weapon.

the professor is here

Storm Dragon is talking about a shifter soulknife, but he seems to still be exploring concepts.

Me'mori was talking lyrandar hydromancer

So obviously we have several options open.

One thing that I've been considering suggesting would be to have just a few characters, but with gestalt to fill out the party roles. Or perhaps two characters each (much easier in PBP than real life).

Hey Philo what if I created a character that is a friend, relative, or such of Dakaal someone who is used to his prickliness and banters with him from time to time for some reason to be determined once the character is a bit more fleshed out.

Thoughts?

I'm open to a sibling/cousin/neighbor/friend. I was thinking that he came from a working-class district. Not the cogs, but he definitely had to do a lot of social climbing. Literally. I'm eager to hear more.

Dakaal is a blue. We could have a family of blues or he could have just been a mutation. I'm good either way. Dakaal would have probably been a misfit, but a little less so among blues. But despite being odd, Goblins would still tend to stick together a little more than humans. Even though he's moved up in the world, he would still send money back and still give a good reference to family and friends. He'd be honest about it, but he'd emphasize the strengths.

By the way, this is a great overview of Eberron goblins: https://keith-baker.com/dragonmarks-goblins/ And this is a good guide to some phrases we can use: https://eberron.fandom.com/wiki/Goblin_(language)

EltonJ wrote:

So far, only two people have submitted realized concepts. If you are looking to put your hat in the ring, I won't stop you.

Do we need some(all of the) Crunch up?

Just some of the crunch, yeah. I'll eventually need to see all of the crunch, but I can do that by clicking on your icon.

Okay got this almost done but need to transfer the information from my work sheet to the forum but this is Kozzemo faternal-twin to Dakaal servant to Balinor Sovereign of Horn and Hunt rider of a lesser Dragonhawk.

And the other brother...

Okay most of the crunch is in place still finalizing equipment but its mostly the mundane stuff that I need to finish up with.

Alright. Anyone else with a fleshed out concept? This adventure is going to be like the movie Uncharted, but with a twist!

Alright. Anyone else with a fleshed out concept? This adventure is going to be like the movie Uncharted, but with a twist!

You mean that it started as an adventure about young James Bond?

Great so GM EltonJ other than the Goblin Twins what other characters do we have for this campaign of yours?

My apologies - I must withdraw my interest for the time being :( My RL busyness end date has been indefinitely extended past April 8th. If it ends sooner rather than later I’ll check back here, but that seems unlikely at this point.

I'll have mine up by tomorrow.

I'll have mine up by tomorrow.

Can't wait to see it. ;)

Sheet.

I had a last minute crisis of mechanics and may quickly retool as a PsyWar, but it won't change my fluff.

Simple, but I think I'll have fun with it.

What's the crisis? Maybe we can help.

Yeah how does one have a crisis of mechanics making a character?

I had to resolve at least 3 crises of mechanics but they had nothing to do with making a character but everything to do with mechanics. Ever since DnD 1e and still to this day these crises have not been resolved within the guidelines.

1) All magic that effects the mind belongs in the school of Enchantment per the definition found in the guidelines. Phantasmal Force is defined as a mind affecting spell but what school of magic is it in? Not the school of Enchantment where it belongs but in the school of Illusion which is not supposed be mind affecting magic. Okay all phantasm are redefined as Enchantments crisis solved.

2) Illusions create false sensory input that affects what your senses register. Okay if so why does my belief or disbelief in those real but false sensory inputs cause the sensory input to change? It is like a hologram, if you know its a hologram does that make it stop being a hologram. No so if the hologram shows you a wall it will always show you a wall regardless of whether or not you know it is or is not real. Okay all Illusion no longer change their state due to someone's belief or disbelief in them as they do not affect the mind and as such one's belief has no affect upon the Illusion. Crisis solved.

3) Wizards cannot cast healing magic. Why? Because the guidelines say so. Okay but what is the reason within the fantasy realm that you are running that wizards are not capable of creating a healing spell and casting it? Because of game balance. What? Wait, what do guidelines and game balance have to do with how things work within your fantasy realm. I mean what is the in-game reason for why Wizards cannot cast magic? Because the gods say so. And why do the gods say so? Because the guidelines say so for the reason of game balance. Okay back to square one. So sadly most folks never answer that question but I finally did and do for the games I run but it required fixing some of the mechanics. Crises solved. Nope your right I did not say how I solved this one as I want you to think about this one. It is actually logically solvable with an in-game solution rather than just an out-of-game reason.

I just meant I might like PsyWar better than Soulknife.

I just meant I might like PsyWar better than Soulknife.

Okay. Psychic warriors are cool. I like the meditant archetype that gives them monk-like AC. When you add some of the spells that add damage to weapons, you get a Jedi Knight.

I had to resolve at least 3 crises of mechanics but they had nothing to do with making a character but everything to do with mechanics. Ever since DnD 1e and still to this day these crises have not been resolved within the guidelines.

Some of these have been resolved by simple redfinitions. Be careful of breaking things to fix other problems.

This campaign I have planned out in my head should take a short time to resolve. About a month. Then we can go our separate ways. I don't know if I can do a sequel, though.

Given the number of PBP games that last a month and don't come to a conclusion, I'm okay with this.

Storm Dragon wrote:

I just meant I might like PsyWar better than Soulknife.

Okay. Psychic warriors are cool. I like the meditant archetype that gives them monk-like AC. When you add some of the spells that add damage to weapons, you get a Jedi Knight.

Ive tried playing Meditant several times, but as Monk replacements go (and I've played just about every class that can specialize in unarmed attacks) I've always found it lackluster.

Philo Pharynx wrote:

Storm Dragon wrote:

I just meant I might like PsyWar better than Soulknife.

Okay. Psychic warriors are cool. I like the meditant archetype that gives them monk-like AC. When you add some of the spells that add damage to weapons, you get a Jedi Knight.

Ive tried playing Meditant several times, but as Monk replacements go (and I've played just about every class that can specialize in unarmed attacks) I've always found it lackluster.

Oh, I don't play it for the unarmed attacks. I use it for the AC and powers.

So, Me'Mori, are you still doing the Lyrandar Hydromancer? I'm curious which way you go with this.

It's not like there aren't options...

Hydrokineticist

Shaman with the waves spirit

Oracle with the waves mystery

Sorcerer with the aquatic, elemental, or marid bloodlines

Wizard with the elemental school

Witch with the water patron

Yeah, that's my dilemma...

Each class changes the interpretation of the character, but I wanted to stick with Arcane magic to keep the "bound to this plane in this form that does not speak to me" feeling.

I was also considering Arcanist, to capture that "pursuit of the unbound" philosophy

I can expand the consideration into the divine, if we're lacking in that department.

-- Elemental grafts are available, Eltonj?

We could probably do fine with out more divine ;) poet don't know it.

I think your concept of the "Bound to this plane in this form that does not speak to me" combined with the "In pursuit of the unbound" makes for a solid character concept. One that would fit quite nicely into the Eberron setting.

Me'mori what do you mean by Elemental Grafts -- I am working with EltonJ to help get things launched and underway. So I might be able to help answer that question and/or pass it by EltonJ to see what he thinks. Which I will probably do anyway.